THE LOVE OF GOD– by Stephanie M. White
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3 KJV
The love OF God is that we keep His commandments – not love FOR God.
The love of God is displayed in our ability to keep God’s Word; He enables us to keep His Word because He loves us. The word “keep” means to focus on, to keep your eyes on, and to hedge about as with thorns. God loves us so much that He gives us the ability to focus on His Word. He gives us His Spirit so we can understand and connect with His Word.
Don't misunderstand this verse and believe that if you love God you'll do no wrong. If you do, you'll be confused; you may even begin to doubt your salvation because the focus is on self rather than God.
Peter believed that he loved Christ enough, but Peter was met with the truth when he denied Christ three times. Jesus warned him that he would deny Him, but Peter didn't budge. He repeatedly declared his love for Christ instead of crying out to Him for the help he needed. We must understand that nothing good dwells in our flesh; we're desperate for Christ – we cannot even love Him apart from Him.
The love of God provides us with everything we need to participate in our Spiritual nature. God loves us so much that He gives of Himself – we have His Spirit, we have His Word.
The Word is meant to be our place of rest; we're supposed to abide in it and rely on God to do His work in our lives. This is the love of God.
Stephanie is a wife and mother. Find more articles and her published books HERE. | 
